Representational painter, teacher and musician, whose work could have a narrative quality, as in his picture Interior of the Glasgow Art Club at The Caledonian Show III, The Contemporary Fine Art Gallery, Eton, 2001. Burns graduated with honours from Glasgow School of Art in drawing and painting, 1983. Began teaching in 1987, eventually at St Aloysius College, being made principal of art, 1990–9. Showed widely in mixed exhibitions, especially in Scotland, including RSA, Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts and Compass Gallery in Glasgow, and won a number of prizes. Solo shows included J D Kelly and Art Exposure Galleries, both in Glasgow; Green Gallery, Aberfoyle; and Veem Gallery, Philadelphia, America. Among Burns’s many portraits were the Member of Parliament Brian Wilson, Minister for Industry & Education, Scotland, and Jake Scott, director of RSA Films in New York.